Pietro Psaier (1936/1939-2011)Screenprint and Oil behind archival glass, titled "A Study of Death" AP, signed bottom by Pietro Psaier and bottom left by Andy Warhol. Inscribed; A Still Live subject silence and at peace with his maker Pietro Psaier Exhibition Alcatraz San Francisco. Piece was inspired by Warhols electric chair series. Psaier was an alleged Italian artist who produced Pop Art paintings and prints that mimicked and referenced those of Andy Warhol. It is important to note that there is very little biographical information on Psaier, outside of a 1963 press release. Many surmise that the identity of the artist was manufactured by nefarious art dealers, in order to boost the monetary value of inferior works. Born in 1936 near Rome, Italy, he spent a significant portion of his early adulthood designing cars for Enzo Ferrari. Moving to Greenwich Village in the 1960s, the artist met Andy Warhol, with whom he struck up a friendship. Producing work in the 1970s on commission for various movie stars, the artist ran into financial trouble during the 1980s. In an effort to evade his debts, he purportedly fled to a rural part of Southeast Asia. A death certificate which surfaced in 2011, claims he died in Sri Lanka during the tsunami of December 26, 2004.

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